FLASH Gives Update on Successful My Safe Florida Home Pilot

TALLAHASSEE (January 8, 2007) - As the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes – FLASH®, Inc., nears completion of its nearly $3 million state-funded work on the My Safe Florida Home Program pilot, the group shared details on the program that provided nearly 14,000 free home inspections and innovative new technologies for homeowners seeking to harden their homes against hurricane damage. 

Program Background
FLASH’s work on the pilot followed creation by the 2006 Legislature of the unprecedented My Safe Florida Home Program, a $250 million program offering free wind inspections and $5,000 matching grants to help strengthen Florida's existing homes.  The FLASH-managed portion of the pilot program received $2.9 million to provide free home inspections, develop computerized tools to analyze the inspection information, design a home rating scale, and develop and implement education and training programs.   

FLASH was chosen for the pilot because of its nationally-recognized mitigation, construction and insurance expertise, widespread base of disaster safety partners, and proven eight-year track record of delivering quality and cost-effective programs to the State of Florida.  FLASH’s cost for managing their portion of the pilot project was approximately 7%.

Free Home Inspections
The state initially asked FLASH to perform 1,000 inspections during the pilot, but public demand and the need for a wider sample of inspection findings increased the task to 12,000 free inspections by November 30, and ultimately to 14,000.  FLASH had 90 days to build, train and deploy their inspection army while building all the analysis and computer tools, and training more than 1,600 inspectors and contractors. 

"Developing program components while delivering the inspections was a daunting challenge, but Mother Nature spared us from big storms in 2006, and our dedicated team worked seven days a week," said FLASH President/CEO Leslie Chapman-Henderson.  "Some joked that this approach was a little bit like painting an airplane while flying through the air, but with potential hurricanes bearing down on families and homes, there was no other way to go."

Hurricane Resistance Home Rating Scale
Each inspected home receives a safety rating on a 0 to 100 point hurricane resistance rating scale.  

"Providing homeowners with a benchmark score for their homes is very powerful, and provides them with an action plan for hurricane safety," said Dr. Frank Lavelle of Applied Research Associates, a subcontractor for the pilot.  "People need to know whether or not they are safe inside their homes."

Each homeowner receives three potential improvement plans and estimates for both the cost and potential savings if any of the three plans are followed.  And while the major program goal is family safety and preventing hurricane losses, secondary benefits will include insurance discounts and credits.

FLASH’s Completed Pilot Program Deliverables

1. Research, development and testing of professional standards of excellence for wind certification inspectors and entities;
2. Research, design and testing of a residential wind inspection evaluation tool (checklist) for use in evaluation of homes' hurricane resistance levels;
3. Research, development and delivery of a wind inspection course curriculum with detailed technical manual, seven-hour classroom course and course presentation, course exam and train-the-trainer protocol;
4. Training of 1,600 inspector and contractor candidates;
5. Identification, evaluation, selection and management of Wind Certification Entities (inspection companies) to participate in the pilot program, including training, monitoring and on-site compliance testing for required criminal background and drug testing of inspection personnel;
6. Referral and supervision of nearly 14,000 home inspections and quality assurance re-inspections with customer service coordination with the Department of Financial Services ;
7. Research, development, testing and deployment of a comprehensive two-way data programming systems for management of inspections, processing inspection findings and analyzing and preparing a complex final inspection report including the hurricane resistance rating scale; and,
8. Research, writing, design, coordination and printing of various training manuals, publications, brochures and users guides, etc., DVD-editing and development and more.

FLASH retained a diverse professional team to help with the program, including wind engineering Ph.D's, information technology experts, computer programmers, civil engineers, catastrophe modelers, law enforcement professionals, a former inspector general, building contractors, building officials, home inspectors, web programmers, a science teacher and more. 

Challenges
Because the program is free, consumer demand from hurricane-worried homeowners was overwhelming.  DFS received more than 50,000 phone calls during the first week.  They had to manage the call volume, paperwork, and prepare the requests for inspection referral.  They chose to do a pilot program to design, build and test the program as a foundation for grant-making and expanded inspections that will begin in the first quarter of 2007. 

The Future
With the inspection analysis underway, the state will be mailing final reports and grant applications this month.    

"We've been helping homeowners and homebuilders understand mitigation for more than eight years," said FLASH Senior Project Manager Eric Vaughn.  "But being part of this pilot project gave us an even deeper understanding of what homeowners need.  They want to know if their house is going to survive a storm, and if it is not, they want to know what to do about it."

Leaders from other hurricane-prone states are interested, too. 

"South Carolina and Texas have already made inquiries about the program," said Chapman-Henderson.  "Everyone is open to new ways to help homeowners prevent damage."

Florida officials sought expertise from FLASH throughout the time they spent developing the My Safe Florida Home program. 

"Gov. Bush told us he was counting on us to help make mitigation a permanent and a reliable part of the state’s plan to survive hurricanes," said Chapman-Henderson.  "I think Florida is well on its way."

About FLASH
The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes – FLASH®, Inc.  is an award-winning 501(c)3 nonprofit organization of government agencies, professional associations, and private industry committed to strengthening homes and safeguarding families from disaster.  Based in Tallahassee, Fla., FLASH is the nation’s fastest-growing disaster preparedness organization with more than 80 partners from academic, government, leadership, nonprofit, private and public sector organizations.  To learn more about FLASH and access free homeowner and homebuilder resources, visit www.flash.org or call toll free (877) 221-SAFE (7233).

###